Introduction: Van Petrovich Pavlov was a Russian scientist who investigated the digestive system of dogs by presenting them with meat powder and measuring the amount of saliva they produced. Pavlov found that the dogs began to salivate even before the meat powder was presented as they associated the feeder with the meat powder. This led Pavlov to conclude that the dogs were conditioned to respond to the feeder through the process of classical conditioning.
Important Definitions And Terms
Neutral stimulus (NS) - a stimulus which, prior to conditioning, would evoke no response. This always becomes the conditioned stimulus, e.g. the bell in Pavlov's experiments.
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) - a stimulus which innately produces a response or reflex, such as the meat in Pavlov's experiments.
Unconditioned response (UCR) - an unlearned response elicited by an unconditioned stimulus, e.g. the dog involuntarily salivated at the meat (UCS).
Association - a connection between two events which results in learning. Pavlov's dogs learned to associate the ringing of the bell and the presentation of the meat so that they eventually learned to salivate at the bell alone.
Conditioned stimulus (CS) - After the neutral stimulus has been paired with the unconditioned stimulus many times, the neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus. It now elicits a learned response such as the bell.
Conditioned response (CR) - a learned response to a conditioned stimulus. Pavlov's dogs learned to salivate at the bell.
Remember that conditioning is another term for learning. Any stimulus or response that is unconditioned, simply means unlearned, or before learning has taken place.
The main elements involved in classical conditioning are:
Extinction - when a conditioned response is no longer reinforced by the unconditioned stimulus, the conditioned response will cease to occur. For example, if the bell (CS) is continually presented without the meat (UCS), the dog will eventually stop salivating (CR) at the bell alone.
Stimulus generalisation - when an organism has been conditioned to respond to a stimulus, it will often respond to similar stimuli. For example, Pavlov's dogs responded to bells of a similar pitch to the original bell.
Stimulus discrimination - when an organism responds to a conditioned stimulus but detects a difference in other stimuli and therefore doesn't respond to them. Pavlov's dogs did not respond to bell-like stimuli that were quite different from the original bell.
Spontaneous recovery - the reappearance of a conditioned response after extinction and a rest period.
Important Definitions And Terms
Some key terms in classical conditioning include:
Neutral stimulus (NS) - a stimulus which, prior to conditioning, would evoke no response. This always becomes the conditioned stimulus, e.g. the bell in Pavlov's experiments.
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) - a stimulus which innately produces a response or reflex, such as the meat in Pavlov's experiments.
Unconditioned response (UCR) - an unlearned response elicited by an unconditioned stimulus, e.g. the dog involuntarily salivated at the meat (UCS).
Association - a connection between two events which results in learning. Pavlov's dogs learned to associate the ringing of the bell and the presentation of the meat so that they eventually learned to salivate at the bell alone.
Conditioned stimulus (CS) - After the neutral stimulus has been paired with the unconditioned stimulus many times, the neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus. It now elicits a learned response such as the bell.
Conditioned response (CR) - a learned response to a conditioned stimulus. Pavlov's dogs learned to salivate at the bell.
Extinction - when a conditioned response is no longer reinforced by the unconditioned stimulus, the conditioned response will cease to occur. For example, if the bell (CS) is continually presented without the meat (UCS), the dog will eventually stop salivating (CR) at the bell alone.
Stimulus generalisation - when an organism has been conditioned to respond to a stimulus, it will often respond to similar stimuli. For example, Pavlov's dogs responded to bells of a similar pitch to the original bell.
Stimulus discrimination - when an organism responds to a conditioned stimulus but detects a difference in other stimuli and therefore doesn't respond to them. Pavlov's dogs did not respond to bell-like stimuli that were quite different from the original bell.
Spontaneous recovery - the reappearance of a conditioned response after extinction and a rest period.
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